VIETNAMESE WOMAN TO FACE FIRING SQUAD FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING

HANOI - A Vietnamese woman has been sentenced to death for attempting
to traffic heroin to Taiwan, a court official said on Tuesday.

Nguyen Anh Minh, 36, was arrested on July 29 last year at Ho Chi Minh
City's Tan Son Nhat airport while trying to board a flight to Taipei
after customs officers discovered nearly 700 grammes of heroin in her
luggage.

Minh, who was found guilty on Monday by the southern business
capital's People's Court, said she had been paid 800 dollars by an
anonymous Vietnamese man to deliver the haul to a Taiwanese man, the
official said.

Under the communist nation's tough drug laws, anyone found in
possession of 300 grammes (10 ounces) or more of heroin, or 10
kilogrammes (22 pounds) or more of opium, could face the death penalty.

At least people 88 have been sentenced to death this year in Vietnam
and 48 have been executed by firing squad, according to figures
compiled from state media and court officials.